2010-08-02

Homemade Settlers of Catan - 03 Casting

Casting went a little crazy at first. I tried to mix my own concoction of wood putty and resin glue. The hexes were fine for a few weeks just sitting around in my cool basement that is until the 4th week. I went down there and they had exploded! Shrapnel landing almost 12 inches away! I decided to stop, rethink if I wanted to make a game that could explode at any time just so I could save a few bucks. I placed an order for some plastic resin.

Alumilite RC-3 was in my price range and it had a low viscosity to pick up the fine details. It also had a decent working life (2-3 minutes) and would be ready for ejection out of the molds in 4 minutes! This was good seeing as how I had a long way to go. I know for a fact that 3 minutes is pushing it for the working life since I actually had it solidify in mid steam while I was slowly/carefully pouring it out of a mixing cup. Intense!